Louis Broido, chairman of the JDC, declared today:
“We are grieved beyond adequate expression at the news from Prague of the death of our executive vice-chairman Charles H. Jordan. We have no information as yet on the cause of his death. We are continuing our inquiries and a representative of the JDC is now on his way to Prague.
“The Joint Distribution Committee has operated for 53 years all over the world without any political or other purpose than to relieve the distressed, rescue those who have been in or are facing danger, feed and educate children, care for the aged, and to do all the things necessary to relieve those oppressed by famine or by other vicissitudes of life.
“For over half of that time, Charles H. Jordan was a tireless worker on our staff. He spent his life helping Jews all over the world. He rose to be the director-general of our European operations and two years ago became executive vice-chairman in our New York office. His contacts and his efforts were world-wide. His knowledge of relief problems made him an outstanding expert in the field, regarded as such by our government and many other governments.
“His death is a great loss to us and to thousands of people everywhere. For all of us in the JDC. as well as the many thousands who helped to support the JDC through the United Jewish Appeal, this loss is a call to greater effort and greater sacrifices for those to whom he devoted his life.
“Throughout the last few tragic days we have had the most wonderful support of our State Department, our embassy in Prague and of the White House. We are deeply grateful to them for their profound interest in the welfare of an American citizen.”
Statements mourning the tragic death of Mr. Jordan and stressing his service to human and Jewish causes were issued also by major American Jewish organizations, including the United Jewish Appeal, the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress.
Mr. Jordan, who was born in Philadelphia in 1908, attended the Schools of Social Work in Philadelphia and New York and studied at the University of Berlin. He began his work with the JDC in 1941 as director for the Caribbean area, with headquarters in Havana. After serving two years in that post, he enlisted in the Navy. Later he rejoined the JDC at the end of the war as director of the Far Eastern activities, with headquarters in Shanghai where he supervised a JDC program of aid to 15,000 Jews who escaped from the Nazis.
He was transferred to Paris in 1948 to take care of the emigration activities conducted by the JDC. He became assistant director general of the organization in 1951 and was promoted to the post of director general in 1955. He was decorated by the French and Norwegian governments in recognition of his services on behalf of refugees.
From 1959 to 1961, he served as cochairman of the International Committee for World Refugee Year, which is sponsored by the United Nations. He was elected chairman of the governing board of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies at its creation in 1962 and served as chairman of its Commission on Refugees. Earlier this year he was elected chairman of the American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
